The present invention relates generally to a ball pitch training device and more particularly to a training device designed to facilitate a user learning to make a perfect pitching release and motion so that a ball, when pitched, will have a perfect rotation to achieve maximum velocity and accuracy.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that many sports involve the throwing or pitching of a ball and that in most instances, velocity and accuracy of the pitched ball are desirable skills to be developed by the participants in most of those sports. In particular, baseball and softball are sports which center primarily around pitching a ball with velocity and accuracy. Proper throwing techniques are essential in achieving these desired results. To this end, there have been several attempts to develop devices to assist or facilitate the training of participants in the proper throwing techniques of a baseball or softball. One such device is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,838 issued to Groves on Feb. 12, 1991. Groves contemplates a conventional baseball having a colored, lined marking on the cover, and preferably a red-colored stripe spiraling down from the top of the ball to the bottom. The Groves baseball allows one to follow the rotation of the ball by observing the movement of the colored, lined spiral marker, thus making the flight of the ball easier to follow. By being able to follow the path of the colored, lined marking on the cover, one can observe the efficacy of his/her throw. The Groves device is one attempt to deal with the problem in which Applicant's invention is directed, but the manner in dealing with this problem is altogether different than that adopted by Applicant.
Another device which is somewhat similar in structure to Applicant's device but which is designed for an altogether different purpose is the playing ball described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,616,827 issued to Bergland on Oct. 14, 1986. The Bergland device is a playing ball constructed of a central cylindrical disk and a pair of flanking domed-shaped parabolic portions connected to the cylindrical central disk portion. However, the Bergland device is designed to modify the consequences of using a spherical ball in traditional sports such as baseball or softball and is not designed to function as a training device. Moreover, it would not necessarily function as a training device in the same fashion contemplated by Applicant in her device because the smooth edges of the parabolic surface will not show up as readily as the straight disk-shaped sides of Applicant's device in order to more readily observe whether or not the user has achieved the perfect throwing motion.
What is needed then is a device for training the user to make the perfect throwing motion, thereby increasing his/her ability to throw with accuracy and velocity. Such a device is presently lacking in the prior art.